Another choice, another way
by Pheles-chan
Summary: Mephisto gave Rin three options, all of them dreadful in his eyes. What would his way be like once he made his choice?
1. Prologue

**Right, so this is my second ff and I'm really still rather uncertain about it. It is going to be a bigger project (as I'm sure you'll be able to see after reading the prologue).**

**I'll try my best to make it a good read and I hope you'll enjoy it!  
**

**Disclaimer: Ao no Exorcist and all its characters belong to Kazue Kato.**

The black haired boy was staring at his father's grave hands in his pockets while the rain was drenching his hair and the borrowed suit he was wearing. Across his back was Kurikara, the cursed sword his He still couldn't believe that he was gone. Gone because that _monster_, his blood father, wanted to get his claws on him, Rin. Making it ultimately his fault. He could still see his dad's face with that typical grin of his, still hear his voice how he greeted him when coming home. He had known, all along. And he had still treated Rin as his own son. It hadn't been bad intentions that made his dad lie to him about his real identity, he just wanted to protect him. Rin understood that now, now that it was too late. Shiro had always protected him, up to his last moment when he killed himself to get Satan to leave his body to save Rin.

Rin, with his face still emotionless like that of a ragdoll slightly clenched his hands in his pockets, feeling his right hand close around something solid. When he pulled it out he saw it was the mobile phone his dad had given him. _"Once you leave the monastery, I want you to use this. It has the number of a friend of mine saved on it." _That was what the old man had told him.

Rin looked into the contacts to find indeed only a single number there. Pressing "call" he brought the phone to his ear. To his surprise did he hear a cheerful ringtone pretty close to him right afterwards. Just as he turned around he heard a voice coming both out of the phone and from the side.

"A pleasure to meet you, Okumura Rin-kun."

In front of him stood possibly the weirdest looking man he had ever seen in his entire life. He had dark bluish purple hair and a goatee, pointed ears and fangs, but his clothes were by far more unusual. The majority of his outfit was white and consisted of pumpkin trousers, a jacket with three big pink and red striped buttons and a red dress shirt underneath, a long cape with purple lining and a pretty huge top hat with a pink and lilac braided hat band. The outfit was rounded off by lilac gloves, a light pink ascot tie with big white polka dots, red-pink striped tights and brownish red pointy boots. Not to mention the hilarious pink umbrella with candy apllications and an ice cream cone shaped handle he was holding in his right hand. Rin could just stare as that strange apparition of a man bowed slightly to him in the manner of a circus director welcoming his audience and most certainly not in the traditional japanese way.

"My name is Mephisto Pheles. I am a friend of Father Fujimoto's. You have my sympathies for what you have been through."

Looking at the man's, Mephisto's, fangy smile Rin somehow doubted that. Only then did he notice that there were quite a few other people surounding him, all of them wearing black coats and cloths covering the bottom part of their faces. What caught his attention though were the silver, blue and red vaguely cross-shaped badges they had pinned to their revers. They were identicak to his dad's pendant. Looking back at Mephisto he saw that he also had one, only that his was gold instead of silver.

"Are… are you people… exorcists?", Rin asked cautiously.

"We are known as the True Cross Order."

The grin that Mephisto showed when he said that was just plain creepy in Rin's opinion. Seriously, if he had met the guy without all the other exorcists around he wouldn't have believed him one word. He looked more like a demon than anything else, especially with those ears and fangs. _They look just like mine! _But that was ridiculous, of course, There was no way there would be a demon in…

"…the old man said that you'd offer me protection." Rin spoke again, if only to distract himself from his thoughts.

"I am afraid that as an Honorary Knight… I have certain responsibilities. I cannot confuse personal with public interest."

That reply made Rin focus completely on what Mephisto said next, a bad feeling starting to creep up in him.

"You are the son of Satan. You must be killed before you present a threat to humanity."

Rin clenched his fists, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. As if what he had been through the last 24 hours hadn't been already bad enough, now this guy, who his dad told him to contact, who was supposed to _help_ him wanted him to be _killed_?! Mephisto held two fingers up.

"You have two options remaining to you." He stated. " Allow yourself to be killed by us… or kill us and flee… ah… there is also the option of suicide."

Rin watched with clenched teeth as Mephisto held up a third finger to emphazise his point. This was just so _not_ happening! He didn't have a clue what he was supposed to say to that, so he remained silent.

"…now, then… which would you prefer?" Mephisto asked, for the first time with a somber, calculating expression.

Rin forced himself to take a deep calming breath. All kinds of thoughts ranging from worried to completely freaked out were swirling through his head, one thing prominent above all else: "_What the hell?!"_ He knew he had to think fast, but that wasn't quite one of his strengths under normal circumstances, so now it was even harder.

One thing he knew with absolute certainty was that he was so _not_ going to kill himself! He may feel guilty for the old man's death, but his dad had also died to protect him, to save him from a horrible life in Gehenna or even death! He wasn't going to just throw that away, even though he didn't really want to live as a demon. That resolution also meant that he couldn't just let himslf be killed either. He looked up at Mephisto and the other exorcists. _"But to kill them?"_

He didn't like that idea one bit. Sure, he was used to fighting, but definitely not killing, and his opponents were usually just real idiots. These guys here were probably pretty strong and there were high chances that he didn't stand a chance against them, not to speak of the fact that they were actually the good ones. Their job as exorcists probably meant that they protected a lot of innocent people from dangerous demons every day. _"Demons like me."_

He sighed reaching behind him for his sword. All the exorcists immediately tensed up and many pointed guns at him, but to his surprise and relief did Mephisto stop them from doing anything by raising his left hand. The man just watched him with a curious expression on his face, apparantly interested to hear Rin's decision.

"I don't want to kill you guys… I don't want to kill or hurt anyone at all, if I can help it. That would make me a real demon, a monster, and the old man didn't save me for that. So I won't fight you."

He pulled the Kurikara out of the red cover, gripping the hilt with his right, the sheath with his left hand holding it out as if to offer it to Mephisto. Rin could tell how wary the exorcist were of him, looking from him to Mephisto and back anxiously. When he met the man's eyes though he was surprised to see what he believed to be disappointment there, before Mephisto stepped forward, reaching out to take the sword from him.

"Very well, Okumura-kun, if that is your-"

"But the old man wouldn't have wanted me to throw the life he saved away just like that either!"

Rin, in one swift motion, unsheathed Kurikara and slashed it through the air, causing the blue flames the blade was covered in just like his body was now to errupt from it in what looked like a wave or sickle of fire. Not towards the exorcists though. He had directed his stroke to the ground right in front of him, causing the flames to build a wall of fire seperating him from Mephisto and most of the exorcists. He turned around and easily rushed through in-between the two men standing behind him, too shocked were they from what just happened. He ran.


	2. A little hunt

**Oh dear...I hate having to wait ages for new chapters, not knowing whether a story will be continued at all or not...and there I go and make you all endure that myself. I'm truly sorry about that!  
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**I know it's annoying, but as any writer here I do have a real life and that has kept me manically busy as well as forced me to live through a row of rather unpleasant experiences. *sigh*  
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**Of course I probably could have found the time to write, but my heart just wouldn't have been in it and I want to write a good story after all.  
**

**I thank you for all the comments, I'm really amazed at their number and apologise for the long wait! *bows*  
**

**If nothing else, I can at least tell you that I'm absolutely planning to finnish this story no matter how long it may take.  
**

**Please enjoy this little new chapter, the next one will follow soon^^.  
**

**Disclaimer: Ao no Exorcist and all its characters belong to Kazue Kato.**

Mephisto Pheles was usually in perfect control of himself and his emotions and only let those show that would further his plans. Right now, he found himself in a situation that demanded all of his willpower to keep his facial features in check. In other words, he was on the brink of not only grinning out of sheer amusement but even as much as breaking out in quite the tremendous burst of laughter.

Watching the supposedly professional exorcists, his subordinates, as they were running about like a flock of panicked chickens, desperately trying to extinguish the blue flames with holy water while also taking care of the few among them who had received some nastier burns, all of them calling for him to give them orders, was just absolutely making his day. Being a demon, he enjoyed chaos by default and this was just too good! He had been truly disapointed when he thought this youngest brother of his was just going to let himself be killed. All the more he relished the current happenings. He loved to play a good game and this one looked promising for sure.

Turning towards one of the less freaked exorcists he gave his orders.

"Make sure to put all the flames out and then return to the acadamy. I will take care of this personally."

"But Sir Pheles, what about Okumura Yukio?"

Now he could't stop the smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth anymore and he was quite certain that if the man hadn't already been disturbed by the situation as it was he would be so now.

"Ah, good that you ask! Tell him I'll handle the situation and to stay out of it."

Seeing the man open his mouth in obvious protest again he added matter-of-factly: "That's an order. The same goes for everyone else."

Turning around with a swosh of his cape, easily weaving his way through the havoc towards the graveyard's entrance, he added: "Oh, and we don't need any extra fuzz so no need to inform headquarters, richtig?"

Not waiting for a response he briskly walked through the gate and turned left, following the scent of his youngest brother's blood which his sensitive demon nose had picked up. Apparently at least one of the bullets the more competent exorcists had fired after him when they had realised what was happening had managed to hit the boy. Well then, may the hunt begin!

He leisurely strolled along the roads of True Cross Campus Town swinging his pink umbrella around as he went, being absolutely sure to catch up with his 'prey' sooner or later, seeing no need to hurry. After all, why not prolong his fun and let his little brother believe he had actually gotten away?

After having walked down quite a few roads he noticed a number of small drops of blood on the ground now and then.

_Hmm, I suppose he had pressed something on the wound to stop the bleeding and it has soaked through once he got here. I doubt he'd have been able to make it much further._

Smirking to himself, he went on, taking in the warehouses that appeared to the left and right of the road.

_Interesting. He isn't as stupid as I thought he was. I figured he just ran off without any idea where to go but the warehouse district is certainly a well chosen place to hide. For humans, it would be considerably hard to find him here._

Looking down at the specks of blood his smirk grew slightly wider.

_Well, if it wasn't for those that is…_

Following his nose and the more frequent becoming trail of blood Mephisto soon found himself in front of one of the warehouses which appeared to be abandoned. Pushing the old rusty door open, unfortunately making quite the noise, he looked inside.

A wild asortment of messily stacked wooden crates, cardboard boxes, barrels out of both metal and plastic and all kinds of linen sacks in various states of decay all over the place, was what met his eyes. No bleeding and doubtlessly disturbed boy. Knitting his eyebrows together slightly he entered the old building, pulling a face at the the slight rotten smell that was often found in places like this and that was mixed in with but luckily not covering up the scent of blood. In fact, the smell was a lot stronger in the blocked up roller shutters on the far side of the hall into account, the building didn't appear to have any usable exits other than the one he just entered through.

He sighed theatrically. _What a shame…seems like this is already the end of the hunt. To think that a brother of mine would be such easy prey…_

_Ah well, I shall be sure to put him to good use in other games of mine from now on._

A pleased grin spread over his features at the last thought and he enthusiastically made his way around all the mess to the end of the storehouse where the smell of blood and unfortunately also the rotten odour were the strongest. Preparing a range of teasing comments in his mind, he rounded one last big crate to finally come face to face with an utterly exhausted and still bleeding Okumura Rin.

His left eyebrow twitched slightly.

His grin all but gone his eyes wandered around the space before him, frozen in the rather unfamilar sensation of utter disbelief. After scanning the ripped up bloodied sheets of fabric on the floor, they automatically jumped to the only other noteworthy feature, the sight of which surely being one out of his worst nightmares…a stinking, smelly, disgusting and utterly unsanitary manhole.

_That little…!_


	3. How to catch mice

**I'm am really, really sorry for taking this long to update! *bows* I'm afraid I had some really not so nice private issues to sort out and/or adapt to and I'm also quite busy with my studies. I also had to rewrite this chapter about five times, as it was originally out of another character's POV and I don't feel very comfortable writing that character. **

**Sorry it turned out so short now, but this is how I liked it best, so hope you will enjoy it anyway! **

** Also, thank you very much for all the reviews, favs and alerts! They really made me smile and I promise I won't abandon this story even though I take so long to update!**

**A very special thanks goes to SupiriorDimwit, who is my lovely beta (doing a splendid job) and also inspiring me with her great works. ^_^  
**

**Now, please enjoy~**

_Clink. Clink. Clink._

The steady sound of the delicate silver spoon hitting the edge of the with floral ornaments elaborately decorated tea cup could be heard in the otherwise silent, equally elaborate and colourful office. The owner of said office was enjoying the silence, taking his time stirring one spoonful of sugar after the other into his favourite blend of black tea. It was not a pleasant silence, though. Oh no; on the contrary, to everyone entering the office at this very moment, the tenseness in the air would have been more than obvious.

Bright green eyes sparkling in appreciation and amusement at the current situation, a sly smile, which could be easily masked as a welcoming one, was directed at the 15-year-old standing in front of the headmaster's luxurious wooden desk. Stubbornly refusing to take a seat in the plush chair, which said headmaster had graciously conjured up for him only moments ago, he was glaring daggers at the man - no, at the demon - behind the desk. His lips pressed together tightly, his fists clenched in an attempt to maintain his usual cool, so he wouldn't start shouting, wouldn't demand answers from one he surely must consider a truly infuriating individual right now.

Oh yes, he most certainly was a sight to behold, trying so hard and still not achieving what he wanted, as it was only all too obvious how the poor boy felt right now. That didn't stop the youth from trying, though, which was one of the aspects Samael - or, rather, Mephisto Pheles, as he was known in Assiah nowadays - would never cease to find curious in humans.

If he himself failed at something - which rarely ever happened, of course - he would just move on to more promising projects or ways. Humans, on the other hand, could be painstakingly persistent, which he had learned was one of the many reasons why they were so good at creating new things, many of which he would eventually take great pleasure in. Their obstinacy was, more than their great minds, what led mankind to create some of the greatest inventions of all time. Obviously, sometimes, the right buttons needed to be pushed, and more than once a subtle shove in the right direction had to be applied, but there would not be as much entertainment to be gained otherwise, so who was he to complain?

His smirk growing a bit wider at his musings, the purple-haired demon principal raised the fine china cup to his lips. He took a tentative sip before placing it back down on its saucer, resting his chin in his free left hand, elbow propped up on the armrest of his own luxurious chair. Deeming it time to relieve the boy of his suffering, he tutted.

"Now really, Okumura-sensei, you are being quite rude, you know? Storming into my office all of a sudden, only to stand there staring holes into my poor self! Really, that is no behaviour fit for one of True Cross Academy's teachers, wouldn't you agree~? So, what is it that you wish?"

Naturally, he was more than aware of the reason for this not at all unexpected visit, but he just found it way too amusing to watch the usually so collected Okumura Yukio struggle to keep his composure in front of him, his boss.

When the boy finally opened his mouth he first took a deep breath, righting his glasses, standing even more stiffly than before, if that was even possible, before replying in a matching stiff voice.

"My apologies, Sir Pheles, but I would like to get some explanations regarding the way you dealed or rather not dealed with Nii-… with Okumura Rin."

_Hmm, trying to play the unattached, eh?_

"Ohhh? That so? Well then, Okumura-sensei, pray tell, which part of my fool-proof plan did you not understand?"

Blinking almost innocently and completely surprised at the young exorcist, he took note of the even tighter clenching of the boy's fists.

"Well, I'm afraid that I can't see anything of any plan in simply letting my…Okumura Rin escape, after he had just attacked a group of True Cross' exorcists!"

_Someone is really quite riled up here~_

Tilting his head to the side, Mephisto raised one eyebrow.

"Hmm, it would appear that your brother's part in all this, and the recent death of dear Father Fujimoto, has not had the best of influences on your otherwise so fine logical thinking. Else you would have realised that while chasing a mouse might be good exercise, catching it is much easier with some cheese."

Taking another sip of his tea, Mephisto could almost watch the cogs turning.

"And what exactly would be playing the role of that…cheese?"

Green eyes shrinking to merry arcs, his smirk grew into an outright pleasant grin.

"Isn't that just obvious? Who do you suppose poor lonely, upset and possibly still injured Rin will turn to in this most dire situation? Of course his dear, smart younger brother, who doesn't know anything about demons, but quite a few things about first aid, and who he needs to tell that he's alright, how their father died, and why he just disappeared!"

Oh yes, now this was a sight worth seeing! Such a lovely draining of all colour, turning the shade of sour milk. Truly, humans were just so much entertainment, what with all those lovely emotions stirring inside them!

"Well, now as I believe you can see and understand the sheer brilliance of my plan, I am afraid I have to wish you a good day. You see, being the chairman of this fine Academy I do have work to do; and so do you. Guten Tag~"

Mephisto had to hand it to the boy, it was quite the impressive feat that he managed to bow so politely, mumbling some words of farewell, before exiting the office without the slightest stumble.

Chuckling slightly to himself, he took up his tea cup and saucer, turning towards his wide window in his swivel chair. Sipping on the deliciously sugary dark brown liquid he let his eyes wander over the expanse of colourful structures and buildings that was True Cross Academy and Town.

"It's your turn~"

**And, how many of you first thought it was Rin standing in front of Mephisto's desk? *grins*  
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**Whether Mephisto is 'adressing' Rin in his last statement or some higher power such as Lady Luck is left to your imagination ;-) (and to the choice if he would consider RIN a worthy oponent XD).  
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